North Uist, Ben Risary, Buaile Risary
Aisled Roundhouse (Iron Age)(Possible), Dun (Prehistoric)(Possible), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval), Rivet(S) (Iron)(Viking), Unidentified Pottery (Iron Age)
Site Name North Uist, Ben Risary, Buaile Risary
Classification Aisled Roundhouse (Iron Age)(Possible), Dun (Prehistoric)(Possible), Shieling Hut(S) (Post Medieval), Rivet(S) (Iron)(Viking), Unidentified Pottery (Iron Age)
Canmore ID 10078
Site Number NF77SE 11
NGR NF 7667 7291
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/10078
- Council Western Isles
- Parish North Uist
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF77SE 11 7667 7291.
(Name: NF 7678 7288 - (OS 6"map, {1904} Dun, Buaile Risary (RCAHMS 1928). A large green mound, partially excavated by Beveridge. Beneath several ruined shielings a wall 32ft in diameter enclosed a central rectangular chamber (10ft by 8 1/2ft internally, with central hearth) with other chambers and a number of small, probably secondary, cells.
An annexe on the east side, 48ft by 23ft, contained part of another, but incomplete, enclosure 24ft in diameter. Near the centre of this area were traces of a second hearth. The annexe included a group of cells, varying from 30ins to 7ft long, connected by a short passage with the main structure to the south. Finds, including pottery, Viking-type iron rivets, stone and flint implements, are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).
Outside this annexe, upon the northern summit of Buaile Bisara, are the foundations of a well built drystone house, of no great age. This contained modern pottery fragments, together with some similar to that found in the dun. Here was found a small pebble with incised lines, probably an amulet.
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904); E Beveridge 1911; RCAHMS 1928; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1912.
NF 7667 7291 Buaile Risary is a large green mound, the surface of which is covered by a large tumble of stone. It lies about halfway up the north slopes of Ben Risary.
On the south side of the mound is the feature described by Beveridge - a mutilated stony mound, overlaid by later buildings and shielings. It may have been a cairn but is too amorphous for classification.
Some 15.0m N of this feature are the outlines of an aisled round house, 7.3m in diameter, with an entrance 0.7m wide in the east side. On either side of the entrance are the remains of a radial wall.
Surveyed at 1/10,560.
There are at least ten small shieling-type structures among the tumble of stone on Buaile Risary.
Visited by OS (W D J) 20 June 1965.
Note (1928)
Dun, Buaile Risary, Ben Risary.
On the northern slope of Ben Risary about ½ mile north of its summit, at an elevation of nearly200 feet above sea-level, is a grass-covered knoll with an abrupt slope on its northern side showing outcrops of rock. The summit is occupied by the ruins of a number of late structures built on the site, and out of the material of a building which, judging from a section of a thick wall still remaining on the southern arc, has probably been a dun of circular plan. This section of walling is about 6 feet thick.
RCAHMS 1928
OS map: North Uist xxxiv.
Publication Account (2007)
NF77 9 BUAILE RISARY
NF/7667 7291
This probable aisled wheelhouse in North Uist was partly excavated by Erskine Beveridge, probably in the 1890s: it was then a large green mound, partly lying underneath several ruined shielings. A wall 9,8m (32 ft) in diameter was uncovered enclosing a central rectangular chamber 3.05 by 2.60m (10ft by 8.5 ft) internally, with a central hearth) with other chambers and a number of small, probably secondary, cells. An annexe on the east side, 14.6 by 7.0m (48ft by 23 ft), contained part of another, but incomplete, enclosure 7.3m (24 ft) in diameter. Near the centre of this area were traces of a second hearth. The annexe included a group of cells, varying from 76cm (30ins) to 2.1m (7 ft) long, connected by a short passage with the main structure to the south. The outlines of an aisled house (wheelhouse) were detected in 1965 [1].
Finds included Iron Age pottery, Viking-type iron rivets, stone and flint implements.
Sources: 1. NMRS site NF 77 SE 11: 2. Beveridge 1911, 209-12: 3. 'Donations to and purchases for the Museum and Library, with exhibits', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 46 (1911-12), 335: 4. RCAHMS 1928, 61, no. 193.
E W MacKie 2007
